WAGS 31.03.2021: Just Another week.

Deja vu! Yves may tell us why that is in French, yet most people understand the meaning!  The Americans have taken it further - some say too far - with Groundhog Day. Again most of the English speaking world understand the concept.  Yet it is not a big thing in the British Isles.  

Hollywood made an amusing film about it, but how many of you have actually watched it?

Would it be good to start again each day and go through your actions and responses until you got everything right - perhaps then moving on to the next level, as in a video game. 

Do we welcome repetition and familiarity, or crave new experiences and something different to feel really alive. Does it depend on whether you have a long time to go and everything is new - or whether you have 'Been there - Done that' , already. Just to break up what is becoming a string of rhetorical questions, here is a trailer:-

   Personally, I have no problem with repetition, as long as I enjoy the activities, and the cycle is not too long. I welcome the predictability, and at its best, it is a stress buster. However my younger self welcomed change, excitement and new fields.

    The modern family with lots of hands-off and laissez faire programming are a good example these days.    Children seem to demand to be entertained and cannot make their own simple pleasures, until the parents invest greatly and wire them up to the support of an X-Box or the like.  I am sure most readers will have selective memories of long sunny days messing about with friends in the Great Outdoors. Since I was at  first a father I seem to recall the oft repeated refrain " Dad I'm bored!". Did we ever say that ourselves, or did we just go out, get phenomenally dirty, undergo massive risks to our 'Elf 'n safety, and ne'er a mention of Mental Health suffering nor PTSD when we occasionally fell out of trees.   The only things that would get us back indoors were hunger or pitch black night, and not always the latter!

   But now a modern family with progressive parents. The Marsh's decided not to give their 4 children unlimited use of the X-box and TV, to gain a little peace. They decided to make use of the time by composing parodies of popular songs, with parts for each child, Dad and Mum. They were fortunate that the whole family had good singing voices, and at least one of them was a talented lyricist.   If you watch their first videos at  least a year ago, they are a bit messy and unpolished, but now their latest video has better production values - and a different background. The latest offering is a witty parody of the Beatles 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'.

Goodbye Pandemic Road

 I will play another of their early vids and leave it to you if you want to hear any more. Just Search  YouTube for 'Marsh Family Lockdown Parodies'.I suspect that they have left a lot of other Fathers and Mothers feeling a bit inadequate, but to be fair, it is within the reach of most families to come up with something original, whether of this quality or not, to occupy and educate their offspring.

One Day More

Now where was I?   GroundHog Day. Yes if the groundhog emerges from its burrow on Feb 2nd and sees it's own shadow, it will go back underground for an extra 6 weeks. According to WikiPedia this day February 2nd is designated such because of a crossover from the Pennsylvania Dutch, who arrived in America, already having a tradition of Candlemas, a Catholic Day, on Feb 2nd,  which if it is a clear day presages an extra 4 weeks of winter. The roots were more likely in folklore traditions and superstitions. In Germanic Europe the animal was a badger or fox or bear.  Once bears became rarer they nominated the fox in Germany but the badger (dachs) in Holland. These do not hibernate completely but build up fat (much as some of us do) in preparation for the winter, and reduce their activity. In Pennsylvania, they not only changed the weather predicting animal to the groundhog (dox), but extended the extra 4 weeks of winter to 6 weeks.

The quote in Pennsylvanian Dutch is:-

Wann der Dachs sei Schadde seht im Lichtmess Marye, dann geht er widder in's Loch un beleibt noch sechs Woche drin. Wann Lichtmess Marye awwer drieb is, dann bleibt der dachs haus un's watt noch enanner Friehyaahr.

 (When the groundhog sees his shadow on the morning of February 2, he will again go into his hole and remain there for six weeks. But if the morning of February 2 is overcast, the groundhog will remain outside and there will be another spring.

The Scots got in on the act with '"If Candlemas is fair and clear / There'll be twa winters in the year"

The French too (or Victor Hugo) have a saying:-

'Qu'il luise ou qu'il luiserne, L'ours rentre en sa caverne.'

(Let it gleam or let it glimmer, The bear goes back into his cave.)"

– Hugo, Victor. "Les Misérables." 

Well there we are.  We have been living it for the past year.

Here we might use the White Stork which nests and lays eggs from end March/ beginning April, but they are not exactly consistent, and having a clear day is hardly a rarity here.  However they are amazing birds and superb architects, as I have often said before. Unlike the other dominant bird in the Algarve, the variety of Gull, which are noisy, destructive and not subject to discipline. Just like modern anti lockdown (or anti Almost Everything) protestors.

  On one of my saunters this week, I saw a site where the palm tree had been killed by Red Beetle infestation. There had been previous attempts to nest, once the palm crown had collapsed, but the Camara had capped the tree with a pyramid of  wire to discourage their return. From the side where I approached I could see that the storks had taken advantage of this wire pyramid as a back wall to their nest. and woven supports using the wire. I was lucky enough to catch the picture below of the stork in residence, looking as if imprisoned by the wire.

 Shot on : OnePlus 7Pro

Like the turkey eggs mentioned in last week's blog, not only the storks and seagulls laying, but also, apparently are the geese. On our weekly trip to the Farmers Market this week, we found some Goose eggs for sale on one stall. We were looking for more turkey eggs but apparently they had been sold as he had far less available. So we bought up his last 4 Goose Eggs and reserved some turkey eggs for next week. Hearing expressions of interest, this farmer will remain a closely guarded secret, but we may act as his agents!

Goose eggs v. XL chicken eggs

Breakfast comparison: Comparatively more yolk to white with the goose. And tasty too!

Unless someone else comes up with more, I will pause here. Hopefully John had a more exciting week than I. Well he probably enjoyed last Friday evening anyway!

JohnH writes:-

Well, I make no comment about the events of last Friday because of a solemn undertaking I gave to Yves not to mention the subject again, ever, so as to spare his feelings.. So I can´t dwell on it, much as I would like to. 

The previous week, I put in some thoughts about fish and chips, which seemed to stir one or two memories. This last week, for some reason or other, my line of research has been into pies, starting off with an examination of what a Shepherds Pie is.. One would think it fairly simple of definition, but no. There is a remarkable amount of debate about pies, so much so that there are those who are adamant that a Shepherds Pie, for all that it is called a Shepherds Pie, is NOT a pie. But let´s leave that area of pedantry until later and look into its origins first.

Remarkably enough, the mutton pie originated in Scotland. These original pies were baked in pastry crusts and used left-over roast meat combined with a savoury gravy to bring it all together. The meat would be lamb or mutton. When I was at school in Edinburgh, the tuck shop used to sell these pies at break time and they were known simply as Pies.

You can still buy the traditional Scotch mutton pie in Edinburgh and I would recommend those from an excellent butchers called Crombies in Broughton Street in that city. (Their haggis and sausages are excellent as well; ça vaux le détour.)

Then the dish made its way across to Ireland where they skipped the pastry and used their plentiful potatoes instead to provide a mashed topping. Such pies had to be served from pudding bowls, whereas the Scotch pie, being self-contained within its thin but firm crust pastry, could be hand-held as you ate it, no eating irons or plates required. Then when the dish made its way to England, in the north of that country, they continues to make it with mutton; further south they began to use minced beef and pork, but those creations are more properly called Cottage Pies. According to etymologists, the description Cottage Pie first appeared in 1791 and the label Shepherds Pie not until 1854.

A typical Shepherds Pie

Modern life being what it is, there is apparently now a vegetarian version named the Shepherdless Pie. I have no tasting notes.

Now, back to the pedantry. The sticklers assert that a real pie is a dish prepared in a pastry-lined pan and then topped with a crust of the same pastry. This accords with the traditional Scotch pie. It is also the way that some truly delicious pies were made and served in an old-fashioned half-timbered pub in Manchester´s Shambles when I was there back in the early 60´s; a whole pie encased in a thick but soft pastry (the technical name of which I forget) served hot with onion gravy. Unforgettable. A great way to have lunch after clocking out after a Saturday half-day in the office.

And of course the famous Melton Mowbray pork pie is one of the self-contained models.

The Melton Mowbray can come with quail eggs inside, although it must be tricky not to overcook these delicate eggs.

Dishes which have no pastry lining but only a pastry topping are not real pies, according to these pundits, and those dishes with no pastry lining or topping are not pies at all but are really casseroles or Hachis Parmentier as the French have it. And talking about the French, in Canada, shepherds pie (without any pastry) is called Paté Chinois.

Hachis Parmentier

Which side am I on in the great pie debate? Well, I tend to favour the “whole thing being encased in pastry” argument because that is what I enjoyed at school but, when Hazel serves up one of her delicious fish pies Mariner, who am I to argue?

Fish Pie

Chacun à son goût, or de gustibus non est disputandum.

   Thanks for the reminder John -- Pie and Chips tonight. I couldn't let yo close without a mention of the second most famous and possibly most consumed pie in UK. The splendid 'Peoples Pukka Pie! Available in chippies all over the realm , and from the better supermarkets including Iceland ,Portimao (at least they were pre-Brexit). Established in 1963, one of my favourites and now their scientists have come up with a microwaveable pie that can be on your plate, piping hot in under 3 minutes from the freezer!!